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Jimmie Allen Recalls Meeting Troy Gentry at the Beginning of His Career

Jimmie Allen has a lot going on recently from touring, a new children's book, and of course new music. He stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to share stories with fellow country artists, and his family life.

Allen has been pursuing a career in music for years. He shared his story of discovery with Bobby Bones. His current manager discovered him at Pucketts, a grocery store and restaurant in Nashville. Allen was invited to play there because someone else cancelled, and the other artist was Allen's now manager who was also invited after someone cancelled. His manager signed him two weeks after that initial meeting. The two of them still work together professionally in more ways than one. Allen wrote his new song "Freedom Is A Highway" with his manager. That song went on to be Allen's collaboration with Brad Paisley. Allen shared that when it came to that collaboration, he just called up Paisley after they had recently wrote together and asked him to do the song. Paisley said yes pretty quickly.

There are some things fans may not know about Allen. Jimmie Allen isn't his legal name, it's just his stage name. He shared his real name is actually James. And whenever he orders from UberEats, which he does frequently for his Starbucks order, he uses his legal name. He's from Milton, Delaware which is a small town where everybody knows everybody. Allen does go home a lot, he likes to fish all day and then hang out at the local bar Moose Lodge at night. When Allen was in high school he did all of the extracurricular activities. He was in theater and also played sports, he liked to do it all. After moving to Nashville as a solo artist, Allen became part of two different bands, one called Mercury Lane and the other called Color of London. Eventually the bands broke up and Allen went back to being a solo artist.

Allen's experience with bands is why he created and signed the duo Neon Union. He met each of the guys separately, one in an elevator and one through Pitbull. He helped them create their duo, signed them to a production deal, and then signed them to a management deal. Allen very much believes in helping out others in the industry, much like the late Troy Gentry did for him. At the beginning of his career when Allen was working at a gym in Nashville trying to be an artist, he saw Gentry walk in. Allen started working out next to him in his work clothes and eventually Gentry stops him to say hello. The two ended up talking and they exchanged phone numbers when Allen said he wanted to be an artist. Allen shared that the two of them remained friends until Gentry died in 2017.

The spotlight and all of his side projects aren't the only thing Allen is focused on. He is outnumbered at home now with his wife and their three children. Allen confessed that he won with his wife. The two of them don't get too wrapped up in the music industry, noting that most of their friends are just normal people. He loves that she's a real person and loves him completely, she's a great reminder of home for him. He was always wanted to marry someone that appreciated the things he found important, and that's exactly who she is.


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